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Taste of Control: Food and the Filipino Colonial Mentality Under American Rule
Filipino cuisine is a delicious fusion of foreign influences, adopted and transformed into its own unique flavor. But to the Americans who came to colonize the islands in the 1890s, it was considered inferior and lacking in nutrition. Changing the food of the Philippines was part of a war on culture led by Americans as they attempted to shape the islands into a reflection of their home country.
Taste of Control tells what happened when American colonizers began to influence what Filipinos ate, how they cooked, and how they perceived their national cuisine. Food historian René Alexander D. Orquiza, Jr. turns to a variety of rare archival sources to track these changing attitudes, including the letters written by American soldiers, the cosmopolitan menus prepared by Manila restaurants, and the textbooks used in local home economics classes. He also uncovers pockets of resistance to the colonial project, as Filipino cookbooks provided a defense of the nation’s traditional cuisine and culture.
Through the topic of food, Taste of Control explores how, despite lasting less than fifty years, the American colonial occupation of the Philippines left psychological scars that have not yet completely healed, leading many Filipinos to believe that their traditional cooking practices, crops, and tastes were inferior. We are what we eat, and this book reveals how food culture served as a battleground over Filipino identity.
Taste of Control tells what happened when American colonizers began to influence what Filipinos ate, how they cooked, and how they perceived their national cuisine. Food historian René Alexander D. Orquiza, Jr. turns to a variety of rare archival sources to track these changing attitudes, including the letters written by American soldiers, the cosmopolitan menus prepared by Manila restaurants, and the textbooks used in local home economics classes. He also uncovers pockets of resistance to the colonial project, as Filipino cookbooks provided a defense of the nation’s traditional cuisine and culture.
Through the topic of food, Taste of Control explores how, despite lasting less than fifty years, the American colonial occupation of the Philippines left psychological scars that have not yet completely healed, leading many Filipinos to believe that their traditional cooking practices, crops, and tastes were inferior. We are what we eat, and this book reveals how food culture served as a battleground over Filipino identity.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
214 pages, Paperback
Published July 17, 2020
11 people are currently reading
430 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 6, 2020
I was born and raised in the US, and love Filipino Food. So reading the words of both Americans and Filipinos about food in the Philippines during the time of US colonization further expanded my understanding of not only this period, but of where we are today in terms of American and Filipino cuisines, and even perspectives on skin color.
The advertisements purveyed by American colonizers in the Philippines still persist today. Take for example the focus on using light-skinned people in advertisements for processed food and other synthesized products. Orquiza cites a Magnolia Ice Cream ad from 1927 stating, "My complexion cream is none other than delicious Magnolia Ice Cream." Crisco was also marketed in Philippines, "No additives, whiteness, purity - all of these are the properties of Crisco... like the whiteness of cotton. Crisco is so pure."
Today, when I flip on YouTube and see an ad, or look outside at a Manila billboard, all I see are ads highlighting whiteness as a worth-while aspiration from milk advertisements to lotions and deodorants. Light or white skin is beautiful, but should our ads not reflect the beauty of Filipinos of all shades?
The advertisements purveyed by American colonizers in the Philippines still persist today. Take for example the focus on using light-skinned people in advertisements for processed food and other synthesized products. Orquiza cites a Magnolia Ice Cream ad from 1927 stating, "My complexion cream is none other than delicious Magnolia Ice Cream." Crisco was also marketed in Philippines, "No additives, whiteness, purity - all of these are the properties of Crisco... like the whiteness of cotton. Crisco is so pure."
Today, when I flip on YouTube and see an ad, or look outside at a Manila billboard, all I see are ads highlighting whiteness as a worth-while aspiration from milk advertisements to lotions and deodorants. Light or white skin is beautiful, but should our ads not reflect the beauty of Filipinos of all shades?
May 4, 2024
Dissertation dump. Lots of facts to prove one point over and over.
This person is full of hatred towards white America and Americans.
Whenever an American does something good (only rarely) it’s “ironic”. Just because.
If there is anything good about American intervention, it’s saved until the last page and anecdotal.
Imagine this person having a child in this country and trying to live by the book’s moral ideology towards food.
All food markets good and beautiful and safe!
Hygiene evil!
Imports the devils work!
Trust Filipino regulatory processes for food safety!
All things that are good are “Filipino” - whatever the hell that means. Sometimes it’s great if the “authentic” food preference comes from Spanish colonialism. Always it’s horrible if it’s anything American.
The bad guys are Americans, but not one mention of the nepotistic and evil croneyism of Filipino politicians that *just might* have something to do with the safety of food in this country and the truly bad scientific reasoning of its many people, and more— the manipulative practices of its famously journalist-killing government which has created a media complicit in state horrors.
Author: there are healthier, less romantic ways to have pride in a country. Hating white people ain’t the best way. Let’s cook!
Why don’t you come live here though and try it out?!
Never mind, enjoy the US, fuck head!
This person is full of hatred towards white America and Americans.
Whenever an American does something good (only rarely) it’s “ironic”. Just because.
If there is anything good about American intervention, it’s saved until the last page and anecdotal.
Imagine this person having a child in this country and trying to live by the book’s moral ideology towards food.
All food markets good and beautiful and safe!
Hygiene evil!
Imports the devils work!
Trust Filipino regulatory processes for food safety!
All things that are good are “Filipino” - whatever the hell that means. Sometimes it’s great if the “authentic” food preference comes from Spanish colonialism. Always it’s horrible if it’s anything American.
The bad guys are Americans, but not one mention of the nepotistic and evil croneyism of Filipino politicians that *just might* have something to do with the safety of food in this country and the truly bad scientific reasoning of its many people, and more— the manipulative practices of its famously journalist-killing government which has created a media complicit in state horrors.
Author: there are healthier, less romantic ways to have pride in a country. Hating white people ain’t the best way. Let’s cook!
Why don’t you come live here though and try it out?!
Never mind, enjoy the US, fuck head!
January 9, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews